Old Man's Holmegaard replica bow

[Stickhead]

[This is a bow made by "old man."  I'm posting it on his behalf due to technical difficulties, so don't give me credit for it.]


This is a replica of a Holmegaard, Mesolithic bow that I made for a friend of one of my brothers, he is from Sweden. I told him last year when I meet him that I would make him a bow, at the time I didn't know what type bow I would make but thought this would be fitting. I tried to the best of my ability to duplicate the original Holmegaard bow, not the bow that most people think of but the true museum bow. It is made from an elm sapling no of about 3.5" in dia. it is 60" long and pulls 55#@28". It has sinew nocks and sinew bow string, elk hide for the grip tied down on both ends with sinew, I also put goat rawhide on the back of the bow, just in case(this bow will most likely be used for hunting). Most accounts I have read don't think the original bow had a backing, they also thought the bow was strung in the opposite direction from what it was. I made him 3 hunting, 1 target arrow with shafts of Viburnum, wild turkey feathers for the fletching mounted with sinew(he sent me these last year from a turkey he harvested himself) probable should have been goose feathers. I made the points from dacite, and mounted them with pine pitch glue and sinew. I know that this bow is not the fancy bow that people like to see, but it has been an experience to build, this is my first bow from a sapling, all others are from staves of ERS, hickory, or ash.

[Winter Hawk]

I'm not a bowyer, but I sure like what I see.  I take it that the original had the nocks wrapped above and below as well?

~Kees~

[old man]

I am not sure about double nocks on the original, they say that it had sinew nocks. But I do know that the string will slide off the tips at full draw if you don't, and that was a very unpleasant moment, so that is how it got the double sinew nocks

[Del the cat]

nice job
Del

[bownarra]

The holmguaard had stiff outer limbs. That is why you had the problem of the string coming off the nocks. Your bow is bending too much in the outer limbs. You have the width taper correct but not the thickness taper. It should get slightly thicker when the width narrows past 'normal' taper. Tiller logic Check out Boweds holmguaards.

[old man]

The limb dimensions came from the original bow, width and thickness.

[RyanY]

The limb dimensions came from the original bow, width and thickness.

Interesting as my understanding of other replicas that have been made show that the tiller shape has stiff outer limbs when made to the dimensions of the replica.

[bradsmith2010]

for me it would be hard to replicate from measurement,, and also couldnt a different wood bend different even with same measurement ,, depending on stave,, or have a different shape tiller,, even with the same measurements,,?

[GlisGlis]

The holmguaard had stiff outer limbs

Interesting as my understanding of other replicas that have been made show that the tiller shape has stiff outer limbs when made to the dimensions of the replica.

Let set aside wood discrepancy. I think we all agree that almost every stave and sapling has his own characteristics.
Is that possible that you refer to mollegabet bows?
I asked in the other thread what lead to think that holmgaard had stiff outer
Original holmgaard have no visible shoulders, pretty uniform dept along the limbs, almost pyramid shaped outline.
I just want to know if there is something I havent noticed
I understand the advantages of stiff levers. I just do not see them in the original artifact

[Hrothgar]

Very authentic looking bow Old Man, tiller is spot on too.

[BowEd]

A stiff section in the mid upper limb shows the set taken in the resting position farther out to the tip on that limb.

[old man]

I don't know any other way to replicate a 9,000 year old bow other than to use the same type wood the original "old man" used along with the fact that it was made from an elm sapling of about 3.5" in dia. and use the dimensions taken from the original artifact, all of these I did to the best of my ability. I tried not to take away or add to other than the goat skin backing and handle wrap. I removed less than 50 scrapes to the bow that you see, so if it doesn't meet some peoples idea of a properly tillered bow maybe they should take it up with the original "old man". As far as other Holmegaard bows that were made to the same criteria I used, I have not seen any, so I can't say what other replicas look like at 28" draw.

[bradsmith2010]

not being critical in any way,, just saying a different tree might act different even with the same dimensions,, so every replica might vary a bit in the look of tiller, 

[BowEd]

It's a good effort you made making this bow according to an interpretation of a picture.Using all natural materials.Adapting to circumstances created from your efforts.Tillering saplings is no different than tillering staves.With so few of scrapes made to it I'm sure it got made rather quickly.Maybe a few more scrapes would have rounded mid limb of the top limb some.It's also great your friend who's going to shoot this bow is using it to hunt with.He should enjoy it and wish him success with it.

[old man]

The bow is made from the dimensions taken from the original artifact, that can be found on the internet.  I did convert it from metric to standard dimensions. It gives the length as best as possible seeing that the artifact is in four pieces, it also gives the width and thickness ever few inches, this is what I used to shape the bow from, I wish the sapling I used had been a little larger in diameter, to keep to the original design exact, there are no edges on the bow limbs, the crown of the back go straight into the belly of the bow so to make an exact dimensions of the original the sapling would have to be the exact same size as the original bow was make from, if that makes any sense, and no it was not a quick build.